Trades That Impacted The 2012 Season

Every season I always made bold predictions and in those predictions I always have one that is pretty common from season to season. I always claim that a trade will reshape a season or at least allow one or two teams to get ahead.

The 2012 MLS season is no different. If we look at trades dating back to the start of the season and even in the preseason before that, there were plenty of good moves that have shaped this season.

Below are some of the top moves that helped define the season as we know it. I know there are still a few weeks left on the season but seeing how the roster freeze happened a couple weeks back and how there won’t be any other trades until after MLS Cup, this seemed like a good time to discuss it.

(Just to keep in mind, there is no real order to this list, just a running thought as I go through trades that were made)

FC Dallas needed to free up some cash to get forward Blas Perez and the only way it was possible was to move Chavez. The move worked out nicely for both sides in the end. Perez has turned into one of Dallas’ best scorers (when healthy) and Chavez has been one of the many reasons to San Jose’s improvement and success in 2012. In 23 games this season Chavez has one goal and nine assists. Not bad at all for the Quakes.

– Julian de Guzman from Toronto FC to FC Dallas for Andrew Wiedeman –

Toronto FC may still be paying all of de Guzman’s salary but the move worked out well for Dallas in the end. Since de Guzman’s arrival in July, Dallas has gone 6-3-2 to help turn their season around. There may be other reasons why Dallas has improved in that span (David Ferreira being back, the team being healthy, etc.) but de Guzman is one of the more underrated reasons to Dallas’ late season surge.

– Kenny Cooper from Portland Timbers to New York Red Bulls –

This is another one of those salary cap moves. Back in January everyone was a buzz about Portland sending their leading scorer to New York so they could land Scottish striker Kris Boyd. At first it looked silly as Cooper went on a massive run to start the season scoring 11 of his 14 goals in the first 13 games of the season. He’s cooled off since then and an injury earlier in the year to Thierry Henry had something to do with that as well but he’s still a treat to score each game. The folks in Portland debated it all preseason long as to whether or not trading Cooper to sign Boyd was a good decision. Looking back now on what we know from this season, the move was a good one for New York.

– Juan Agudelo from New York Red Bulls to Chivas USA for Heath Pearce –

This one was big in a couple of senses. New York landing Pearce has been a good pickup for their defense. He’s started in 14 games since coming over from Chivas – providing a boost to a defense than can be leaky.

As for Agudelo. His time with Chivas hasn’t been that great yet. But the reason why this is such a big deal – even still today – is due to the fact that he needed out of New York in a bad way in terms of his development. He needed a better situation than he was getting and he seems happier in LA. He’s played in 15 games since joining Chivas, scoring two goals and adding in three assists.

– Alvaro Fernandez from Seattle Sounders FC to Chicago Fire –

This was another one of those Seattle to Chicago DP trades. We saw it a couple years ago with Freddie Ljungberg and this year the two sides got together again to make a deal with Fernandez being involved. Seattle went after Christian Tiffert once Fernandez was off the books to sign him with a DP deal. Chicago may have got the better end of the deal in the short run however. Since joining the Fire, the Windy City club has gone 7-1-1. Fernandez has been a huge part of their resurgence up the standings over the last two months. He’s added in two goals and one assist in that span but has done a lot more than padding his stat line on the field.

This one was a head scratcher back in January. Just weeks before the new season kicked off the Union traded away their all-time leading scorer and probably one of the biggest fan favorites for allocation money. This one was surprising because the player and the club front office (mainly Peter Nowak) had a falling out after Le Toux failed to get a transfer to EPL side Bolton.

To add insult to injury for Union fans, Le Toux was later traded to their main rivals New York later in the season. Ouch.

Fans in Seattle weren’t sure about this move back at the beginning of the season. It was a gamble, a high-risk/high-reward type of move. For Seattle it paid off. Johnson has seen his career get back on track in Seattle. He’s scored 15 goals and tallied two assists this season.

As for Neagle and Fucito – two fan favorites in Seattle – neither have done much this season. Neagle has struggled to find time in Montreal while Fucito got traded again in the season, this time to Seattle’s rival Portland.